I would have thought that for $10 someone would'a bought it. I have to agree about the 75 meter hamsticks not being very efficient, they aren't. They are certainly 'usable', but that doesn't mean 'good' by any means. - Paul

I used to run one on the back of my truck all the time a few years ago as I traveled a lot. I mostly kept a 20m stick on there, but I talked to a lot of locals on 80 meters during the day. My biggest problem was not being heard, but hearing other stations on 80 meters. I went through a lot of small towns, and the line noise was really horrible. coupled with the signal to noise ratio with the poor ham stick didn't help.

I tried a 80m hamstick many years ago (still have it) but it was a poor performer. I think I worked 1 or 2 station on 80 while mobile on a ham stick. It was after sunset and about 500 miles but they could not hear me that well. The sticks worked good on 40 and higher bans.

Logged

--------------------------------------Ham since 1969.... Old School 20wpm REAL Extra Class..

on 80 meters the total size of the antenna compared to the size of the wavelength is a lot. on 10 meters a hamstick is almost full sized and very efficient, on 80 m not so much. Give it to your local club as a prize for a drawing as a little fund raiser for the club.

on those little 1 inch antennas for you HT, I use them all the time. The only time I carry a HT is like at a hamfest, so I put on the tiny antenna so I can talk to my buddies on simplex with in a couple of hundred yards with out having the normal rubber duck poking me all the time. they are not very efficient either, but I am only talking across the building or parking lot so they do fine.

When I get them home, I cut off the black insulation, strip the wire off, etc., and then they get made into something that really works.

I've made most of my mobile antennas out of Hamsticks, and for 40-10m they've all worked good for mobile antennas - 75/80m and 160m IMHO is a waste, it's too inefficient and the car (ground plane) is too small.

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